Effects of Nitrogen Application and Planting Density on Growth and Yield of Sesbania Pea Grown in Saline Soil

Planting density and nitrogen (N) application rate are the two major factors affecting crop productivity. The present study was carried out to evaluate the effects of N application rate and planting density on the growth and yield characteristics of Sesbania pea in saline soil. Two planting densities (D1: 120,000 plants ha –1 and D2: 200,000 plants ha –1 ) and three N application rates (N1: 0, N2: 180 and N3: 360 kg ha –1 ) were applied in this study. The higher planting density decreased plant height, root length, pod number per plant and seed number per pod, but increased dry weight, N uptake and total seed yield. Increasing N application rate promoted plant height, SPAD reading, dry weight, pod number per plant, seed number per pod, seed yield and N uptake, whereas further increase in nitrogen rate played only a minor role in growth and yield (except plant height and SPAD reading) at D1. Moreover, planting density and N application rate had no significant effects on 1000-seed weight. According to the present study, D1 combined with N2 is an effective strategy to increase individual growth of Sesbania pea in saline soil, whereas D2 combined with N3 is the effective strategy for total seed yield.